To avoid shadows on their face and to produce a lovely halo effect in their eyes, portrait photographers often use a ring flash, which completely encircles the lens with light for even illumination. But it also results in a telltale darkened halo around the subject that the cheaper RoundFlash could alleviate.

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Combining the best features of a diffused flash and a ring flash, the RoundFlash also comes in a highly portable package that uses a photographer's existing gear. At $159 it's cheaper than a professional ring flash, but produces similar results by diffusing and redirecting the light from a hotshoe mounted flash around a camera's lens. It even recreates the halo effect in the subject's eyes, but produces a larger illumination area reducing shadows at the edge of their face. When not in use the RoundFlash collapses to a camera bag-friendly package that weighs just eight ounces, and using elastic straps it easily retrofits to most camera and lens combinations. [RoundFlash via Wired]